The Man Who Sold the World
by Newbornson
Summary: Four years after Sarah's victory, she finds herself before the Goblin King in a new challenge and at face with the mysterious past of her former and still current adversary.
1. The Bedtime Story

Chapter One

A breeze drifted through an open window. Thin white curtains tangoed with the night air as it caressed the faces of three siblings. Sarah Williams spoke in a gentle melody of a voice as she read to two little boys, five-year-old Toby and three-year-old Rye. All three siblings had a special thing in common: they all loved 'The Labyrinth'. But only eighteen-year-old Sarah and five-year-old Toby shared insomnia and a deep love for a magical place that neither knew the other knew about.

"The bell tolled just as her words echoed through the endless room. She looked up just as white feathers caressed her cheek and watched the owl fly out her baby brothers' window. Our heroine sighed at the familiar sight, her brother lying asleep in his crib, and thus is the tale of Ingrid." Sarah finished, a wistful sigh in her voice as she closed the little red book. She glanced down to her right and saw Toby, his right arm lying across her midriff, look at the red book with a sad yet blank stare. She turned her gaze to Rye, a small smile gracing her lips as she watched a clear thin line, like a spiders' web, start from the right corner of his mouth to the cotton on her t-shirt, a little tear shaped drop running along its web.

"Alright Tobes," Sarah said quietly. "Time for bed." A groan was his only response as she gently lifted her right arm out from under Toby's head, setting the book down on the nightstand with her left hand. Then, with great ease, she reclaimed her left arm and slowly went across the body of Rye and settled her bare feet on her bedroom floor. "Come on squirt." she said quietly to Toby as she picked Rye up gently and quickly moved across the pale-carpeted floor, Toby at her heels.

She turned right as she exited her room, letting Toby pass by her in a hurry, and watched him open the door for her. She gave him a knowing smile as she entered the room, glad that Rye was still afraid of the dark, and thus, wanted a very good night light. Toby rushed by her once more and flipped back the Sesame encrusted design sheets of Rye's bed. She eased him down and covered him up, patting the comforter lightly and smoothing it out across his legs, tucking him in here and there. She brushed back his medium brown locks from his fair forehead and laid a loving kiss there, moving out of the way for Toby to follow suit.

Sarah turned around and picked up a grinning, please-pick-me-up faced Toby and carefully started closing the door, stopping when the door thumped silently against her toe. She removed her toe and left the door exactly an inch open incase Rye had another nightmare and wanted more light. She shifted Toby's weight so she was carrying him in front of her and rested her chin on his shoulder as he rested his head on her left shoulder. He wrapped his arms a little more tightly as she released her left arm from under his weight and opened his door. She smiled as he started to play with a small strand of her thick raven locks and patted his behind affectionately as her left arm came from behind her, off the doorknob, and under his bottom, supporting his weight better.

"Now," Sarah began as she crossed his dark blue-carpeted room. She removed her left arm again and started to fold back his bed sheets, picking up Lancelot from the chair by his nightstand and placing it next to his pillow. "If you need anything, I'm right across the hall," she said, placing him in bed, moving the sheets a little more so he could get under them better. "Okay?" she asked, as she covered him with his homemade quilt, quickly handing Lancelot to him. He nodded and pulled his quilt closer to his chin as she tucked him in, Lancelot glued right by his side.

"There we go." she said and smoothed the quilt over his feet, tucking it under as she did so. "Now, "she stated, looking at him through narrowed eyes, "give me a kiss."

Toby smiled as she leaned down over him, her hair brushing his cheek as he gave her a sloppy kiss on the mouth. She chuckled and pulled back. "Now that was a kiss, " she said and gave him a quick kiss on his forehead.

"Luv yoo Sawah." Toby said as she rose back up to her full height. "Love you too." she said and caressed his cheek much like she had when she had checked on him after her adventure. She turned around and walked to his door. Looking back and blowing him a kiss, she started to close it when he stopped her.

"Close it pleese, " his soft, quiet voice reached her. She gave him a pursed smile, remembering last time he entered his parents room while his parents were more intimate that night. It lead to very compromising questions, especially when he asked if she did that too, and ultimately lead to her taking care of his inquiring mind all night. To say the least, he started coming to her room where he would just crawl right in next to her with his bear, Lancelot. Taking comfort that each time he'd crawl in with her, either conscious or unconscious, Sarah would turn around with a slight smile on her face and place her arm around him, giving him a secure feeling needed for him to fall fast asleep.

She sighed and leaned against his door before heading straight across the hall to her own bedroom, softly closing her door behind her. She ran her slim fingers across her dresser before crossing the room to where her bed lay waiting for her, inviting her like some forbidden pastry. She smirked as she thought of her bed calling her in a soft, enticing tone: "Sarah. Oh Sarah. Come here sweet girl and let me keep you safe and warm. Go to _sleep_. Go to _sleep_!" Like Hollywood in that one movie, 'Mannequin' with Kim Cattrall in it. Him and his jelly donuts.

She almost laughed at the thought of her bed growing lips and arms. She gave a half yawn half sigh with a stretch of her arms high above her head and twirled in motion, falling on her bed with grace. She blew a stray of hair off her face and grabbed the edge of her comforter, brought it to her chest and rolled over once, looking much like a caterpillar. With some difficulty, she managed to lift her legs up on the bed and scoot her way up to the front. She gave a last grunt and rested her head on her large black dog-shaped pillow, blowing more hair of her face.

Her mind began to wander into regions she forbid it to wander under normal circumstances, her mind becoming foggy with tiredness. She thought of her adventure, of all her friends she made and all the obstacles she went through. She still talked to them, every now and then, but not as much as she used to before Rye was born. When he was born, her days were constantly filled with homework, work and babysitting. She didn't mind all that, but she rather missed them. 'I'll have to call them tomorrow. See how they're doing.' she thought before her eyes finally shifted shut, her chest rising slowly as her subconscious took over.

She dreamed of her adventure, like most times, and like most times, her dreams caused her to become fitful in her sleep and, eventually, leaving her with only four hours of sleep. Whatever opportunity of sleep, good or bad, that she could get, she normally went after. Therefore, it wasn't any surprise that she didn't notice a shadow loom over her, or the fact that her bedroom light, which still shone brightly, went off with no sound.


	2. The Visitors

Chapter Two

Jareth tilted his head to the side as he watched Sarah sleep, the moonlight illuminating a soft silver halo across her skin, giving her an ivory tone. Sarah sighed and snuggled deeper in her burrito-like nest, a single raven lock finding its way down her ivory face, making its way across her eye. Jareth uncrossed his arms and gently, with a touch as soft as a brush of a butterfly's wing, coaxed the raven river back into her sea of hair, leaving her face untouched. Sarah sighed again, this time a soft low purr like sound and moved her head to the left, following his gloved hand as a sunflower follows the sun.

He gave a pleased yet gentle smirk, let his eyes roam somewhat swiftly across the rest of her form and then back up to her face as she took a deep breath and exhaled silently, her body snuggling in the mattress even more. Jareth took a single step back away from her bed, getting a view of the full length of her body. His head cocked to the side as her body followed his movement and turned fully on her left side, facing him, her right foot protruding out of the end of her burrito shell. He let a hushed chuckle echo softly in her room as he looked at her foot. He brushed his leather tipped fingers against her big toe in a caress, letting his ethereal eyes travel to her face, watching her intently, his lips parted.

"Dear Sarah," he said quietly and gently pulled his gaze down to her exposed foot, his gloved hands clasping in front of him. He felt a breeze drift through the space in front of him and let only his eyes follow the pull to the source. The window was open only a half inch. He turned his head toward the window and let a sour expression grace his face for only a moment before it became expressionless. His eyes glanced down at the face of his conqueror and he slightly shook his head, "Still naïve," he murmured softly, almost fondly, and quietly walked to window. He parted the sheer white curtain and leaned toward the glass, looking down past the tree branches that scraped her window as if searching for something. Satisfied, he leaned back and glanced at the sill, prepared to shut the window when he was caught by surprise. A nail with a rubber guard surrounding its rough head was embedded sideways, securing the window frame to the rest of the house. He stole a quick glance at the other side and saw the same thing.

He smirked.

"It seems I owe you an apology Sarah," he whispered to the glass as he still stared out it, his face only an inch from its gleaming clear surface. Thunder in the background rolled off the tongue of some heathen god as lightning soared across the midnight blue sky. Misty, blue, thin clouds came rolling in the above sky at an alarming velocity, bringing rain with them. Rain screeched against houses and trees and lightning continued its searing display, leaving a tattoo of its former self briefly adorning the sky before it too faded.

A movement in the left side of his vision caught his eyes, which followed the dark shadow when it simmered across the puddles of the street and slithered over the crisp grass. It went out of his sight and Jareth waited, knowing perfectly well that the shadow was creeping up along the side of the house, its arrival muffled by the storm to human ears. But Jareth wasn't human, not any more, and he was expecting this kind of company.

He kept a steady gaze on the half inch of vulnerable space, waiting to see the gnarled hands that belonged to the creature that was finding its way up to Sarah's bedroom. The harsh, demonic noise as the hands dug into the side of the house, ripping its innards out, grated on the King's nerve. Nevertheless, ever the aristocrat, he rolled his eyes at the thought. He kept his face in measured line, sure that no sign of any emotion showed on his face.

Ten clumped, unnaturally thin, rusty brown fingers, graced by long, tarnished, bronze, sharp nails, slid between the spaces, only taking up half of the half inch. Another ten fingers slid in by the first set, followed by a third, and a fourth.

Jareth stood back, standing close to Sarah's bed as if defending her in some way, for his leg found its way pressed against the side of her bed. He ignored her content sigh and the fact that she curled into a ball and leaned toward his body as the brown clumped fingers and bronze nails fused together to look like mud. He watched in disdain as a massive flood of the brown substance spilled its way on Sarah's lush carpet.

"Aospenz and Aiethen." Jareth nodded to the chunk of mud as it began to form a creature. "How are you?" he said in an everyday conversational voice as the creature morphed to its normal form. To describe the creature that Jareth now looked upon would be as simple as this: it looked like a mermaid covered from head to fin in lots of wet mud, only this mermaid did not have a fin, but a twin. Jareth figured that the Doctor thought it would be a great idea to fuse together at the stumps two, mud-covered mermaids whose lower parts had been hacked off -- hence the title of the race: the Amphisbaena. In the end, the good Doctor got a lethal weapon, though didn't live to reap the rewards.

Jareth, fortunately, saw the birth of these creatures all those thousands of years ago, and thus was not in harms way when it came to the not-so-tiny critters. A sort of morbid bond, like the first person a doe sees it recognizes as its mother. Jareth, the only survivor to witness the birthing, could, to simply say it, order the Amphisbaena race around; he was always at the birthing of each one.

They were limited in number, even though they were Hermaphrodites. However, what they lacked in numbers, the were endowed with extreme power, immense poise, incredible poison, and a Godly premonition state of mind and, if not for him, could easily have taken over the underground and aboveground. Possibly even the three great cities Cë-lix, Cè-lid and Celis. Remembering this information, he turned his back towards Sarah, easily leaning a bit on the bed in his arrogant King fashion, his arms folded across his chest.

"Hello Jareth.," said Aospenz as her twin nodded her head. Amazingly enough, they left no trail of dirt or mud behind as they made their way toward the middle of the room, using their uniquely strong arms to easily slither their way to him, Aospenz in the lead. The twins eased their body down with practiced grace. Their body turned as if they were a horseshoe instead of an unearthly creature and, in effect, Aospenz was flanking Jareths' left while Aiethen took his right.

The twin girls looked up at him through their now dried, cracked hard rough eyelids, the dirt substance that served as skin. Their eyes a piercing artic white, a hint of miniscule thin, light blue vines swirling and clinging around the inside of their irises, their pupils almost nothing more then a mere black pinpoint dot in the center.

"How did you know we would be here Jareth?" Aospenz asked as she stretched her unnaturally long arms towards his boots.

"My dears," Jareth began, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips. "I know you two far too well for your own good," he finished as he gently brushed back a bit of what looked to be a waist long clump of wet sand and placed the bit behind her extremely long, finely pointed ear.

Aospenz and Aiethen gave wicked smiles, a startling image for their teeth were lightning white and had canine fangs that would make a vampire jealous.

"You are not to touch her," he said firmly, all evidence of amusement gone from his face. The twins' smiles faded, Aiethen heaved her half of her body to glower at the girl on the bed, caught by Jareth as his eyes followed her abrupt movement. Her sister followed her movement as Jareths' attention was away and snuck her right ten-fingered hand up where the young lass lay, the young lass who was now clinging to Jareths' cape as if it were her only lifeline.

Aiethen's lips curled in a snarl and a throaty growl emitted from the strangely gorgeous creature as she noticed the white knuckled grip on her masters' midnight blue star sparkled cloak. Jareth turned his head to the left, toward the outstretched upper half of Aospenz, where the creature's hand was reaching out toward a very wide blue eyed, moonbeam pale faced, rigor mortise petrified Sarah, who was very much awake.

"Sawah, we had uh nutherr…"

In front of the mess stood Toby, holding Ryes' hand.


	3. The Attack

Chapter Three

"Keep running!" Sarah gasped out as she practically drug Toby and Rye behind her. She glanced behind her as the lights in the hallway flickered like fireflies before cracking and exploding as the creature raced across the walls and ceiling.

Everything had happened so fast. She had felt a cold draft that caused her to wake up, thus laying eyes on the thing that batted 'its… their eyes at the man in front of her. She was so scared; she had never seen anything like it.

She was almost to the stairs.

She remembered leaping out of the bed as the creatures took in the sight of her brothers. It felt as if she was being possessed when she leapt up and grabbed her table lamp off her nightstand that conveniently stood at the foot of her bed. Why she placed it there, of all places, was beyond her, but she was glad. She took the lamp in her hands with the intention of bashing it across one of its heads. But as there were two hands holding her back, she, of course, threw the lamp at the creature, thus gaining its unwelcome attention. She saw it hiss at her much like a snake would and literally dig its nails in her floor as it quickly scuttled across her floor and ran up her wall, the other half of it finding its way by clinging to her ceiling.

The creature seemed to hunch down, as a cat would stalk its prey, and, with no warning, launched its body toward her. She sucked in air, but not to scream. Sarah was no common damsel in distress. She braced her body as she pushed herself back, slamming against the wall neighboring her bed hard enough for tiny black dots to cloud her vision. The next thing she knew, she was sailing through the air as the creature landed on her bed, the weight and force of the creature's landing shattering the bed into pieces.

She flew past her nightstand, upside down, and slammed into the wall with a sickening thud. She slid down at such a speed that she fell flat on her face instead of her head. She let out a shaky breath as she realized that if she had been going just a millimeter slower, she would have stayed with the wall and broken her neck.

Sarah pushed herself up, her arms shaking underneath her. She ignored the pain that shot up from the base of her tailbone to the center of her head. She tightly closed her eyes for a brief moment, doing her best to block out the searing pain she was receiving from her head. It felt like some force was trying to grind her head into her spine, twisting and turning it, her bone melting into fine dust.

Sarah forced her eyes open, ignoring the screeching and the mini-bomb blasts coming from her left as she looked up and focused her eyes on Toby and Rye.

"Run!" she shouted, doing her best to get up. They stood there like idiots, eyes wide open in fear with tears streaking down their cheeks and chins.

Sarah immediately stood up, sucking in a sharp breath as she felt pain in the back and center of her chest and ribs. She grimaced, but hurriedly sprinted over to the two young boys.

Without a glance back, she dragged them behind her, shouting at them to run.

A furious wail nearly made Sarah deaf as it tore from the creature's mouth. Sarah braved a look back and yelped as she forced her brothers down, following suit and covering their bodies. She bit her lips as hot, fire-razors grazed her back and the back of her neck. Luckily, Sarah and her siblings were close enough to the stairs to be able to bend their necks along with the top step, the top of their heads skimming the next step.

Two shocked screams were heard as Sarah glanced up to see the body of the creature clawing the air for something to grab onto as it fell to the first story.

Sarah got up, hauling her siblings up with surprising strength and ran down the stairs, all the while keeping one on the door and the other on the creature. She watched as the creature wrestled its way out of the glass-topped coffee table it landed in. The metal sides of the coffee table were bending with a load groan before completely giving in to the strain and shattering into pieces, which flew in every direction like when a car explodes in action movies.

Sarah reached the door and opened it just in time to shove her brothers and herself through before the pieces came flying through. She grabbed her brothers just a second before and threw them and herself to the side, watching with horror as large and small pieces of metal came hurtling through the door. She had not even known the coffee table had that much metal in it.

Tired, but unwillingly to give up, Sarah pushed herself up and pulled her brothers to their feet, grabbing hold of their hands once more before running to her left where other houses lay. She figured going across the street and into the woods would only prove to further make the matter worse.

"Ow!" Toby yelped, clutching his foot, thus halting the group.

"What Toby?" Sarah said in a hoarse whisper as she continually glanced back at the front of the house.

"Som'in's inmah foo'," he said, holding up his left hand, which was covered in blood.

Sarah bent down to look at his foot, cursing under her breath because of the lack of the light, when a loud bang echoed into the night damp air. Sarah looked over her shoulder to see the creature clumsily crawl its way out of the house, look to its right, and then to its left, Sarah could have sworn she saw its eyes glow red before scuttling its way over to her ground at an alarming speed.

"You'll just have to suffer Toby," she yelped out as she picked him up with her left arm, grabbed Rye's hand and tore past her yard.

Sarah hadn't gone two feet when she collapsed on the ground with an almighty, throat-tearing scream. Toby, who had fallen out of her arms, quickly scrambled to her side and tried to drag her.

"Rye, help mee!" Toby shouted as Sarah screamed in even more pain. Rye, with all of his young mighty self, tried in vain with Toby to drag their sister's body.

"The'sth toooo heevy!" Rye cried out as his grip slipped and he landed in a puddle of mud, a blood-curling scream resonating from him.

"Toby, go and take Rye and run!"

"Buh…"

"Go!" Sarah yelled and shoved at him as the creature hunched down. Toby nodded his head and quickly left her sight, just as the creature hauled itself into the air, an evil gleam in its eyes.

"TOBY!" Sarah cried in horror and astonishment as young and brave Toby flung his small body over Sarah's in an attempt to protect her.

Sarah immediately grabbed hold of him with her right arm and dug her face into his shoulder as she did her best to turn their bodies where hers was facing the creature. Her left hand, out of habit when she could do nothing in a dangerous situation, rose up of its own accord, as if it would be enough to shield her and Toby.

A blinding light blocked out the stars and a great and loud electrical crack whipped across the night sky as the midnight air rushed into a pinpoint vacuum of space, as if a black hole existed right between Sarah and the creature.

"OH! Tha wasth THO COOL!" Rye yelled in his barely understandable speech as he ran next to Sarah.

Sarah dared a confused peek from Toby's shoulder as she turned her body in its normal position. Sarah looked on in confusion. Shouldn't she be torn into bits by now? Probably being digested into the foul creature's stomach by now?

Instead, to Sarah's bewilderment, she saw the creature, withering on the asphalt road that made the corner of her home on the other side of her house. Sarah watched as the creature whimpered and muttered, to Sarah's assumption, dark things in its strange native tongue. It clawed, cried, and turned a light, sandy brown as it continued its mutterings before it completely disappeared through a large black and silver puddle that she was sure was not there before.

Sarah moved her upper body and tried to readjust her feet when she felt a tremendous pain sweep up her leg.

She looked down at her foot with a teary shake of her breath and saw a long, wide piece of glass embedded into the middle of her foot. She tried to lift her foot towards her, but cried out in pain. She noticed, once her eyes cleared from the tiny black dots and her tears, that when she moved her foot, something in the shadow of the tree moved with it. She looked up, her mouth falling open.

Her beloved tree's branches were torn. It looked as if it lived through a devastating tornado. She looked down again and squinted her eyes. It was not something in the shadow that moved with her foot: the piece of glass had been embedded into one of the tree's severed limbs.

"Sawah, Sawah, are yoo alwight?" Toby asked in a slurred voice.

Sarah looked up at him and nearly let out a gasp. The entire left side of his face bruised. "Oh Toby," she coughed out. She caressed the bruised side of his face.

He grimaced, "It was fwom that twee bwanch over thaire," he said and pointed over at the limb, which was so long that half its body lay against the side of the house. That was Sarah's favorite branch, the branch with which she could sneak out of the house when she was grounded.

"Must'a bin tha stowrm," Toby said. Sarah nodded and looked to her left, where Rye stood beside her. He, thankfully and miraculously, was not harmed, but he was not concerned about either of his siblings' welfare, but rather looking up at Sarah with adoration.

"What happened?" Sarah asked Rye.

"Oh Thawah it wasth THO COOL! Yous thoulda theen it!" Rye said in a hurried manner, his eyes glittering in a crazed fashion. Sarah was taken aback; he was never like this.

"What was so cool Rye?" she asked carefully.

"Tha theeng!" he replied eagerly.

"What thing?" Sarah and Toby asked, confused beyond intelligence.

"Tha theeng in the thy," Rye said and pointed up.

Sarah and Toby followed his finger, but saw nothing. Sarah looked back at Rye. "Explain," she said.

"It wasth THO COOL!" Rye said, his eyes getting huge.

Sarah nodded her head, "I understand that, but explain what happened," she said, weariness starting to overcome her.

"Well, I thaugh thoose theengs weres gonna ta eat yous, their mouths weres tho huge, leeke thisth huge," Rye said and held his arms as far apart as he could.

"Go on," Sarah gently coaxed him.

"An' then, uh booble came outta oof air. IT WASTH THO COOL!"

"Rye…"

"Then, then ewewytheeng turned weally bwight and white, leeke those cwazy moovies yous leeke ta wat with mommy an' daddy late at neeght with tha docthers who wanna ta deessect peoples in thoose bwight white wooms," Rye said so fast that Sarah barely understood him.

"An' then, then, then uh gweat big huge lighthnin' bolt came outta oof tha boobble an' buwrned tha banthees ta _HELL_!"

"RYE!"

"Well… it did, an' they _FLEW_!" He waved his right arm in a curve out toward Sarah. "Leeke _superman_," he whispered. "Only," he began, in a more sobered state, "nauht as neefty as he doesth. They were mowre leeke flappin' fithes than superman," he said in a matter of fact tone."But it wasth sthill WEECKED!" he finished.

"It wasth awesthome!" Rye said. Then, after crawling into her lap and putting on a puppy-dog face slurred into one sentence, "Doit uhgan."

"Whoa!" Sarah heard Toby exclaim.

"What?" Sarah asked, as she looked a Toby. She followed his gaze and gave an indigenous cry. "What happened to my window?"

Silence befell upon the trio as they gazed at the window, or what should have been a window. What stood in place of the window was a rather large hole that left no shard of glass behind. Sarah saw 'small pieces of wood and larger splinters' hanging from cracked two by fours, being cradled by the window as the sheer curtains caressed the mutilated side.

"I went through it," a crisp voice answered.


	4. The Kings' Ransom

Chapter Four (Finally)

Not even the crickets chirped their midnight blues as Jareth stood there, in all of his glory, quietly and patiently dusting off fragments of glass and twigs, big and small. A slight frown marred his face as he looked down himself, his leather vest was in shambles, unraveling threads and torn pieces hung off him like Christmas ornaments. Still, ever the aristocrat (eyes rolling), he kept his silence and elegantly pulled a rather large pointy twig out from under his vest, briefly wondering how it got there. He didn't even want to think of all the debris that was sure to be littering his hair. He muffled a sigh; it just wasn't his night.

"Wha…Wha-wha-wha…" Sarah stumbled out in, to mildly put, bewilderment.

Jareth looked up from his final inspection of his person and looked at her, taking off his right glove and shaking it upside down until all debris that had made its way there found itself back in mother natures caressing arms.

"Now Sarah," he began in a mock disapproving tone, his head slightly cocked to the left. He took off his left glove and repeated his earlier action. Small twigs fell out, making scuff marks on his dust covered boots, as he continued "I was so sure a _fine_ girl such as yourself would be able to put a coherent sentence together." he tugged his left glove back on, "I must've thought wrong." he finished with a Cheshire cat grin easing on his face.

"_What are you doing here_?" Sarah demanded in a low whisper, her hazed mind suddenly cleared of the fog bank. Her brow furrowed in worry as reasons as to why he was here, after four years. Only one seemed plausible: revenge. She watched Jareth with the same beady eyes of a vulture eyeing soon-to-be lunch and discreetly pulled Rye and Toby behind her.

"Sarah." Jareth said in a disappointed voice, his tongue clucking as his eyes drifted to the ground, helping him make a dignity-safe path towards her. He stopped just a half a foot in front of her and, with a cock of his head, looked down at her through eyelashes. He clasped his hands behind his back and leaned over, his face a mere three inches from hers and said in a for-your-ears-only whisper, "Not the right question." pulled back up into his intimidating stance, stood there for a brief moment and began to pace in front of her, head down in ever unwavering patience for her reply. That and the fact that he might trip and fall flat on his face, thus ruining the intimidation routine, besides, he didn't need to have his nose broken again.

Sarah's face boiled red in an effort to keep from exploding her frustration on him. Her fingers flexed in aggravation that he caused with just four words. She took a deep breath and slowly released it through her nose. It wasn't working. "What's the right question?" she asked in a polite manner, her teeth nearly grinding one another out of existence. Sarah kept her eyes lowered from the humiliation as she saw from the corner of her eye, Jareth stop and turn towards her. He started to walk slowly and deliberately to her.

"I see that you still haven't grasped the meaning of asking the right question." he paused his step almost directly in front of her. "I wonder," he began and tapped his chin with his left gloved hand, "Do you still take everything at face value?" He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, watching her reaction like a child eagerly waiting to tear open a Christmas present.

She looked up at him with all the loathing she felt for him right now, her lips pressed almost in a straight line and her eyes showing tears of humiliation and extreme dislike. She refused to be his personal wiping mat. "I see that you do." she replied with a tight, controlled smile.

He turned his head to look at her fully, his face reading like a love child map of pleasure and anger. She hit a nail. She almost smirked in her joy of finally finding something sensitive to him, no matter how trivial and shallow that spot was. He could easily remedy it within only a few days where as hers would give him a summer camp of sadistic torture.

His expression suddenly turned to that of extreme satisfaction. She almost groaned aloud, she just gave him a new toy to play with. He could reel in all kinds of enjoyment from the battle of the wits. She could see it now, as an advertisement on T.V:

Bright red flashing words: BATTLE OF THE WITS! SEE WHO CAN UNRAVEL AND EXPOSE THE OTHER QUICKER: JARETH, THE GOBLIN KING WHOS' HAD UNNUMBERED AMOUNT OF YEARS TO PERFECT THIS CRAFT. OR SARAH ELIZABETH WILLIAMS, AGE EIGHTEEN, HAVING ONLY LESS THAN THIRTEEN HOURS OF DIRT ON HIM! IT'S PSYCOLOGY 101!

SERIES PREMIERES SUNDAY AT EIGHT. ONLY ON _FOX_!

Side effects may include, but are not limited to: epileptic seizures, foaming of the mouth, serious air deprivation that may cause death, head popping off, anger management classes and a sea of never ending costly bills, couch potatoesitus, steaming ears, nostrils and/or mouth, coniptionus fitnus that can result ones head splitting open with green flames licking out from the canyon, laryngitis, everlasting stench from deprivation of showering.

Jareth let an amused smirk drift carelessly on his face before duty called. "Sarah." he began to execute his reason for being here. All traces of amusement gone, her attention was immediately snapped to him, "You must come with me." he said and held out his right hand towards her. "What?" she asked in a deadpan voice, her face belying her shocked disbelief. "I don't think so." Jareths' lips pursed as he retracted his hand. He cursed himself for getting caught up in the reunion.

"I don't have time for this Sarah," he said and almost lazily lifted his left arm and pointed behind her. Sarah turned so suddenly to see behind her that her right leg jerked, the one harboring the badly injured foot. She sucked in a deep breath as unwanted warmth and electrical pain shot through her leg, her muscles painfully stiffening up in Charlie horses. The jerk sent the glass tearing a larger gap in her foot, sending a feeling of pain that felt as if someone was nailing a railroad spike all up and down her foot.

"What did you do to my brothers." she spat out as she grasped her leg in a vain attempt to rid herself of the pain. Bad horses.

"They're safe," he said before handing his hand to her again. "Now come with me."

"I don't believe you," she sobbed out as exhaustion, frustration and pain began to overwhelm her.

"See for yourself."

A crystal appeared from his outstretched hand and inside the crystal was the image of a sleeping Toby and Rye, cuddled together in a large sea of silk jade and forest green pillows and sheets. Jareth turned the crystal around, showing Sarahs' parents encased in their own bed of ruby red and crème sheets.

"What are you doing with my parents?" Sarah shrieked out.

Jareth almost growled when suddenly, he heard something in the distance that made his heart stop: thunder. He looked up and saw massive rain clouds like that from earlier roll in at an alarming rate. Sarah had looked up also; she didn't notice that it had stopped raining. She blinked in surpris; she wasn't even damp except for where she met with the grass. She looked up at Jareth with confusion just as he looked down to her, a look of his own suspicious confusion intertwined with determination painted on his face. Eyes met; and that's when Sarah knew that he was dead serious about what he said next.

"If you do not come with me, I promise you that you will never find your family. No matter how long or hard you look," he leaned closer to her, "Not even if you sold your soul to the Devil." he raised back up.

"Now which shall it be?" he asked, his tone showing no hint of remorse, warmth or caring. She was stunned, he was different from what she had thought he was like the first time she met him. The cocky, egotistical arrogant dirty playing king had always been engrained in her mind, but maybe it was a farce. He could be a serial killer who wants to chop up and boil her and her family's head in acid. Going with him was like signing a contract with the Devil, and she wasn't so sure that he wasn't. But she had a duty to her family. The stakes were higher this time, she was sure of it; she was seeing a side of him that made her blood run cold. What if he was always like this. But she had to go; she had to save her family, even if it meant she would burn in Hell for it. She shuddered and strengthened her resolve. If she was going, she was going to make it clear that she was _not_ his play toy and _not_ to be taken lightly. She gave him a stubborn look before turning back to her right foot and carefully, with great caution, pulled her foot towards her while placing her left foot on the branch.

Hot blinding pain rose up from the pit of her stomach to the edges of her tear ducts. Tears rapidly rose to the brim of her eyes and poured out like a waterfall, blinding her. All she had to do was pull her foot towards her and hope she didn't pass out in the process. The edges of the glass savagely tore the muscles in her foot without mercy, causing blood to burst out of the tear from both ends and form rivulets of bright red cascade down her foot. The tip of the glasses edge grazed the now sizeable hole on the bottom of her foot. The sharp pain ceased and a wave of immense relief flooded over her as her face slowly returned to its' normal shade of ivory and her breathing stabilizing. She gulped in air and shaking, pushed herself up, only using her left leg as a means of firm support. She turned towards Jareth just as heavy rain began to pour from a crying giant. He held out his hand, his expression blank. With a firm look of her own, she lightly placed her hand in his gloved one. Their eyes locked in a silent battle. What seemed like thousands of ear shattering screeches that she heard in a slightly less volume only minutes before pierced the silence as she and her now captor disappeared.

She didn't see the clumps of mud spill forth from the woods across the road and her now broken house. She didn't see them form into an insane amount hideous mermaids. She didn't notice it when the rain suddenly stopped, leaving a cool chill hang in the air. She didn't see when the now clumps of dirt launch their way across the street, nor did she see the one leading them launch its body in the air, its mouth opened wide, ready to swallow her.

It landed with a ground-crunching thud, swallowing only air and magic. It growled as it viciously turned back towards its' comrades. The one closer to the small army let out an angry rush of air through her nose. Her face twisted into a look of pure evil and hatred as the others gathered around her and her twin.

"He has betrayed us."

Whew! I'm SO HAPPY! YEA! Does the moon walk

I'm SO sorry for not writing this sooner. I got stuck in the Christmas traffic, trying to by presents for everyone because I was too lazy to buy them sooner, when it was safer and more healthier for the sanity. After I retrieved my sane side after Christmas, I was really looking forward to writing this chapter. I'm sorry, but it wasn't coming to me. I knew what I had to write, but the details were more than a bit vague. I wrote different versions of this chapter and hated them ALL. This is the only one I'm mostly pleased with and I hope you all are fairly pleased with it also. I'm very sorry for leaving you all hanging high and dry and I hope this chapter satisfies your craving. The previous earlier versions of this chapter were SO stupid it made my head fall off.

Yes, I did change it a bit. Sarah is eighteen, Toby is five and Rye is three. I changed it because, in the beginning, I was a dodo bird. I should've thought a little more before I tagged ages because any parent would know that a two year old can't speak, a two and a half year old can't speak well. So, I gave them birthdays: Sarah, December 12, 1970 (yes, it was intentional). Toby February 29, 1984 and Rye November 13, 1985. This takes place in June, 1989. So hah! I even tweaked Ryes' and Tobys' speech. It's been a while since I've been around a five year old, so, if the speech is off on Rye or Toby, let me know. I'm a perfectionist, and this story has a lot of work to be done to it, so no harm in help out with that.

I want your honest opinion, do you think I should move the part where she removes the glass up to where she finds Jareth, in a attempt to defend her brothers, or should I get rid of it? It's actually possible to do that you know. I had to, sort of, when I was six or seven. It was summer, and I never where shoes in the summer unless I must. I was in the backyard and walked across a two-by-four because my dad was building something, I can't remember. Anywho, I stepped on a huge nail and I had to drag the board and my foot back up to the front of the house. It was not easy and it hurt, like a m-fer. Just to let you know that it is possible to still function properly when in great pain. I've even stepped on some gigantic piece of glass because I didn't see it, took a pair of forceps and dived right into my foot. Suffice to say that I'm use to pain. It wuff.


	5. The Cause of All Your Pain

"Well done you two." A velvet voice spoke from the darkness. "You may go."

"But what of Jareth?" asked Aiethen.

"Yes," hissed Aospenz and the others that accompanied them on their mission. "He betrayed us; helping that human filth." Aospenz spat out the last word as if bile had risen up from the depths of her being to encompass the word.

"Did I not tell you what would happen?" Said the velvet voice.

All was silent except for the shuffling of the many Amphisbaenas.

"And did I not tell you not to question me when you came back?" Said the same velvet voice.

"But he **_betrayed_** us!" Yelled Aiethen

"What do you want? What will satisfy your anger, hmm?" The velvet voice, clearly female, asked in a mocking tone. Though this seemed to fly over the heads of many of the Amphisbaenas, for they started to mumble amongst themselves as their leaders, Aospenz and Aiethen contemplated.

"His head." came the venomous reply from Aospenz. The rest of the Amphisbaenas shouted their agreement with her reply.

"You can't have it just yet." Was the deceivingly patient reply from the darkness.

"But…" Aiethen said before she was interrupted.

"No." the woman hidden in the dark said with a deadly tone.

"But it isn't f…"

A swift electric white wing shaped light flew through the air at the twins.

Aospenz never got to finish her sentence. And her twin never was able to back her up.

The remains of the amphisbaena twins Aospenz and Aiethen sizzled through the worn cracked stones of a temple dedicated to a Heathen God from long ago, age and weather taking its toll on the structure built before humans was created. The voice from the darkness turned away from the scene and walked onto the balcony, her lily-white slender fingers curled around a stone banister that showed more wear and tear than any other part of the temple. A harsh sigh and a name came from light pink thin lips, the escaping breath turning white as it met with cold air.

The hands and lips belonged to a woman who possessed a stature of death and power. She was as deadly and merciless as she was beautiful, and she was strikingly beautiful. She turned her raven-haired head to a humbling bowing half-amphisbaena of brown color so light that it almost seemed white. Said half-amphisbaena rose his head from the slight wave of his mistresses' slender hand, cat green eyes with a thin slit of pure electric white going down the middle of each eye, and said:

"What is it that you wish from me my mistress?"

He bowed his head again.

"Y'falmus…" she paused and tilted her head, "Go to the castle…"

His head jerked up, unusual eyes widening in surprise and, a hint of fright.

"Go to the castle," she reinforced, her eyes daring him to challenger her, "And put this," she reached out of the darkness of her cloak and pulled out a large thick book, "in the library." Y'fal-mus hesitantly took the proffered book in both hands, noticing that the book was heavy with magic as his twenty knotty fingers wrapped around the leathery surface. He clutched it to his chest and bent his head, strange mutterings echoing in the moonlight as the book was engulfed by mist and placed in his chest.

"Don't worry Y'falmus; you will be able to go through the Labyrinth's magical perimeter, undetected even. Once in, find a pair of double doors, they're an old system of traveling and most likely deep with the castle. The doors will be laden will locks. Find the one that leads to the library. Considering it's an old form of transportation and sometimes unreliable, that would be the best way to deposit the book. It may take you a long while to reach the library, even when you find the right keyhole. As I said, it's an old system and they are, even when they were new, unreliable half the time. So, be patient."

Y'falmus pursed his sandy lips, in uncertainty, bowed and began to float above the ground, showing that where he should have a twin, he ended in a whispering mist.

"As you wish my mistress." his guttural voice spoke before the rest of him turned to the whispering mist as that of his tail. He raised high in the air and swiftly went toward the tiny lights on the horizon, brushing past his mistress.

The woman sighed and, with her right hand, rubbed the bridge of her nose, her ever-changing eyes closing, incidentally hiding the fact that, when brown, she was extremely moody.

"My mistress." said a dark velvety smooth voice.

"Yes, Honasgrittas." said the woman as she turned around. Her brown eyes beheld Y'falmus's other half. Honasgrittas, unlike his brother, was ebony in color, from head to misty bottom; all that one could see was black and the lights and reflections that bounced back to the viewer's eyes. He hovered there for a moment, almost hesitant before speaking his mind.

"Don't be afraid to be doubtful about my plan Grittas. I encourage doubt. However, I do not encourage failure, especially at a simple task as that of Aospenz's and Aiethen's. They were the leaders of that mission and they failed miserably. I should've known." She said the last part with a regretful sigh. She turned toward the breeze that was gaining speed and closed her eyes, inhaling.

"Soon." she whispered, a slight smile gracing her face before she opened her now glowing green eyes and put Honasgrittas's fears to rest.

"Don't worry about your brother, he'll be just fine. He has a distinct advantage that no other Amphisbaena has: Half blood… and brains." She said, turning her head to look over her right shoulder as she gave him a grin.

Honasgrittas smiled at her comment, but he still couldn't shake off the tremble of fear he held. The Labyrinth had a powerful magical source that was unknown to him. He couldn't see how his brother would be able to pass the perimeter. Even if he did, how would he keep himself from being detected? It was a mystery to Honasgrittas, but he was no fool, and certainly didn't harbor the title of the Village Idiot. But he wasn't a genius either.

He kept his doubt to himself and decided, as was best, to put faith in his mistress.

Jareth sat in the throne room, comfortably situated in the throne as Rye and Toby were in the center of the room, in the pit. Both were putting together a puzzle, every once in a while one of them sneaking a look up at him, only to snap their heads back when they found he was still watching them.

What they didn't realize was that he wasn't really watching them. He was thinking of company he was expecting and the problems that were about to arise. He nearly sighed and closed his eyes, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

The siblings saw this and looked at one another.

Who was this man, they wondered. How did Sarah know him, and how come he looked so different from when they first saw him.

The boys kept looking at the tired man before them. Instead of the wild blonde hair they had first seen him with, he sported dark brown hair that was calm and just barely brushed his shoulders. Instead of the rocker getup he had first appeared in, he wore clothes that Toby remembered seeing in the pictures Sarah showed him of the late 1800's.

He had looked like a fantastical being when they first saw him, not from earth or any place they heard of and definitely not conventional. He looked like he had no need to live by rules and no one to force them upon him.

But they realized that though he seemed he was more than a man, he was just as vulnerable and just as easy to make angry, if not easier.

And he was NOT free from rules. In fact, he probably had more rules to live by than they did. They may not have thought all these things exactly as they are put, but they noticed them nonetheless. Therefore, they quietly played in the pit as he told them, holding their demands to see their family in check.

Jareth looked to the left, his hands held together as if in prayer. He could see the spot where he knew the dilapidated temple stood, even though he couldn't see it. He inhaled deeply and stood, startling the siblings back into their game. He didn't seem to register them as he slowly walked over to the large window and leaned slightly forward to glance at the sleeping city before turning his odd eyes back to the spot so far in the distance that it kissed the horizon.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly as his thoughts flashed through his mind at an alarming speed.

He was paying the price for his past behaviors. Past behaviors that included Bara. Jareth grimaced as his thoughts circled on the last time he had seen her.

What she has done. Jareth thought as his mind began to walk towards the present. His head slightly turned to the right as he heard hesitant steps approach from behind him.

Mrs. Williams was up.

Jareth heard the boys silently get up and rush over to their mother, who only gasped at the sight of them and hugged and kissed them, questioning them about their wellbeing.

With a suppressed sigh, Jareth turned around, his hands clasped behind him as he gave her a curt nod of acknowledgement.

"Mrs. Williams." he said in a polite manner as he watched the woman react to her title by raising her strawberry blonde haired head to look up at him. She opened her mouth, but before she could utter a word Jareth had held up a hand, effectively keeping her silent. Karen closed her mouth and settled for just staring at the strange man.

"I know you have many questions, and I'm willing to answer them to the best of my ability. Please, sit," he said, raising his left hand to gesture to a seat behind her. She nearly squealed as a plush chair bumped into the back of her legs. Karen quickly looked behind her to see the chair and, with a look at the man that told him she was amazed, she sat down, her boys sitting around her chair and holding her pale hands.

The mother and her two sons looked at the man for him to begin.

"I know you're confused as to how and why you are here," he began, looking behind the family. Unbeknownst to them, Mr. Williams had found the Throne Room and was now standing behind his wife's chair.

"And that is a very long story to explain. But," he held up his hand again when he saw all four Williams open their mouths, "But I will tell you that I mean you know harm. In fact, that's why I had to take you and your children. There's someone who wishes one of your children harm. I don't know why said person wants to, but, no doubt, it's because of her current predicament." Jareth let a weary sigh out and closed his eyes.

He suppressed a shudder.

"What do you mean this… person, wants to hurt one of my children? Why? Which one? Why are we here? How is any of my children involved in any of this?" Karen asked in a frustrated and confused tone. Her thin eyebrows furrowed together, none of it made any sense.

"This person I speak of is willing to do anything to guarantee that she's free from her prison. This world." Jareth said, waving his arm in a grand gesture. "You're here because, if she can't get to the one she desires, than she acquire a way to insure that the child comes to her. I can't tell you how any of your children are involved in this, I don't know. But she's after a way to be released from this world and has found a way."

All was silent except for a tiny murmur, a question, "Which one?" asked the father, Joseph.

Jareths' eyes looked at the man before turning toward the ground.

"Sarah." Toby whispered as he looked over his left shoulder to his father.


	6. When All Seems as for Nothing

I'm bad… really bad. I have no explanation that can justify why I haven't written this sooner. I'm truly and utterly sorry, it was wrong of me and I hope that it won't happen again.

I'll do my best to prevent that.

And, just incase, Chapter 5 has been rewritten to my absolute liking. I hope you like it as well.

And, also, for those of you reading Slow Burn (not many probably), it's not going to be updated for a very long time, because sadly, I have lost where I was going with it. But give me time, I will think of it again, it's just there, just waiting for me to grasp it. So, I'll fix it and update it when this story is over.

Hopefully this story will be complete before the middle of August.

P.S. I could just squeeze the life out of China Girl (Marie-Cris) for being honest about this chapter. It **is** mediocre and I hope some of you who do review will give me suggestions.

I'm just SO happy she was honest with me that I'm just dancing in my seat!

She rocks!

--------------

Y'falmus's mist form grazed the stone steps that lead to the double doors that his mistress had promised would be there. It lay, just as his mistress said, deep within the castle walls. His eyes appeared out of the mist to take notice of the many locks that adorned the large double wooden doors, all of which, including the door itself, seemed to be covered in cobwebs.

His mistress was once again right.

He was not as lucky as he was fortunate… smart. He had taken the Feeder's Well, which had a small burrow that leaded off it. It had taken him almost two days to traverse through the entire uncharted passage, one time having to go to his natural abilities limit when thinning out to mist. It happened about half way through, when he had noticed that the burrow had collapsed due to the Labyrinths' constant change many miles up above and out of its magical perimeter.

He stretched his mist form into the thinnest line he could possibly make, almost thin enough where, once he reached the other side of the wall, that it had taken him hours to reassemble himself. He had prayed that the book was still intact.

Now, with a malicious smile that showed jagged teeth glowing in front of a black void, he stretched himself not quite as thin as he had down in the burrow, he didn't need to be that thin.

He thanked his mistress as he tested keyhole after keyhole, finding that the keyholes led to different rooms, just as his mistress said. Finally, he found the library at the top most keyhole that lay in the corner, and seeped through without a seconds hesitation…

And he found himself on the roof of the highest tower.

---------

Sarah had been awake for some time, her back propped up against the stack of pillows that seemed to engulf almost all around her. She didn't feel good, and she was disturbed, greatly so.

She didn't have a single dream, but she always had dreams when she slept, even though she couldn't remember half of them most of the time.

Her blue-gray eyes seemed dull as she sat there, thinking of nothing-in particular. Even though she knew where she was, she couldn't quite care about the situation. She couldn't form a decent question or thought in her head. All she could do was feel.

And that disturbed her as well.

"Hello Sarah."

Sarah looked up to find the Goblin King, or, she thought it was the Goblin King, standing in the doorway leading to her room. He looked completely different from when she last saw him. Dark brown hair tickling his shoulders and the conservative dressing that men wore in the late 1800s' clothed his figure. No riding crop, no boots, no tights (which she would later be thankful for) and no eighties rocker hair.

He was just a man… or so he seemed.

She didn't say hello.

Jareth cast his gaze to the floor before letting his eyes drift back to her. "I know you must be feeling… odd," he said simply as he walked into her room only to stand five feet from her bed. "I want you to know that I'm sorry for your current state of being. It is my fault, you should know," he said as he clasped weathered hands in front of him.

He looked at her, and all she did was stare right back at him. She didn't feel that she had anything to say, he was already stating the obvious.

Jareth cast his gaze once more to the floor and let his lips crack open. "You'll be feeling this way for a few more hours. I thought I'd keep your family busy until then. I'm sure you don't want them to see you this way, after everything," he said slowly as he looked her up in down in a completely platonic way.

"I would answer the questions I know you'll be wondering, but, you really won't pay any attention to me. That's why I brought this." he pulled out a small thin book from nowhere, walked the five feet to her bead, and carefully placed it on her lap.

"It's a book specifically designed for people in your state in mind. It has no words, just images," he said as he turned around and walked to the door leading to the hall.

Sarah looked at the book with a plain face, grazing the cover with soft alabaster fingers.

"Oh, and Sarah." he said to catch her attention, his left hand lingering on the doorframe as he turned a bit to look at her. She looked up at him with a straight face. "I'm truly sorry," he said with all the sincerity that one could muster in one's voice. He dropped his hand from the doorway, letting it grasp the handle of her door. He closed the door with a soft click, leaving her to explore the images in the book.

"When can we see Sarah?" Joe asked as Jareth came walking in the throne room.

Jareth slowed his walk, studying the man before he continued into the room.

"You're daughter is, in a sense, sick. She'll be fine; she just needs a few hours to herself and to rest. I think that might be impossible for her if she has four people hovering around her constantly." Jareth said quickly as he passed Toby, Rye and their mother. Both children and mother were busy playing some silly game in the pit. He walked to large window, ignoring the man who was walking up to him.

"You're explanation wasn't good enough, not for me." Joe said quietly, without menace in his tone, but in its stead was the tone of zero tolerance.

"I can't tell you things I don't know." Jareth said quietly, never taking his gaze from the horizon. His blue eyes sparkled as he listened to the Labyrinth.

"What's so damn interesting that you have to stare at it all the time?" Joe growled out in a frustrated tone. He ran his hand through his thick dark hair as he glanced at his family, who were glancing at him every so often.

"I'm staring at the horizon all the time because that's where she's at." Jareth said in a simple voice, nodding his head forward.

"You mean the woman that wants Sarah?"

Jareth nodded.

"So if you know where she is then why are you still here? You're just gonna wait for her to come knocking on your doorstep?" Joe had raised his voice seemingly loud enough to wake the dead from Aboveground.

"Joe…" Karen began as she quickly got to her feet.

"NO! I'm tired of waiting around here. For two days, I've done nothing but wait and wait. Waiting for Sarah to wake up, waiting for that Bara woman to come and steal my children away. To tear my life apart and take everything away. NO! I already went through that before; luckily, I managed to hang on to Sarah. Now you're telling me I can't go see her!" Joe vented as he glared at the still man before him.

"I can't leave this place, the Labyrinth, and the reasons are my own." Jareth said the last part quickly, glancing over his shoulder to stare Joe down.

"I understand where you're coming from Mr. Williams, I do. I, myself, have been down that road many a time, more than you have. I assure you, I wouldn't put you through it if I didn't have to." and Jareth left it at that.

"Joe," Karen said as she grabbed her husbands' arm when he came pacing her way. He had taken to doing that a lot recently, specifically, these past two days. "Come on, play with your children. You need to think of them first. Sarah can take care of herself, I'm sure of it. And besides," she said as she heard him sigh and watch him rub his tired brown eyes, "I trust this man." Karen whispered to Joe, her blue eyes telling him that she truly did.

Joe knew better than to argue with Karen when she trusted someone. No, it wasn't because he was married to her and had to abide by the invisible law that a husband must obey his wife, no. When his wife had that feeling that she could trust someone, even when he thought he could never, he knew to do so, because his wife was blessed with instincts that told her the truth, and she wisely listened to them. She once told him that he had the same thing, only he didn't listen, like the petulant child he could be. He nearly smirked at the memory, but the situation he and his family were in wouldn't allow it.

He only nodded and slowly sat down on the pits' edge, grinding his teeth when his knees protested with a loud crack.

---------

A pair of dark murky green-blue orbs slightly glared in oblivion, seeing something that none other in the worship chamber with her could see.

"Don't worry Grittas, your brother's doing well. So well in fact, his already in the castle." the owner of the orbs said quietly as she blinked.

A collective gasp swept through the worship room of the dilapidated construction. Bara stood on a similar balcony as the one from the main chamber that held the execution of a pair of Amphisbaena that they dare not mention by name.

"My mistress, of this news I am glad, but you need your rest." Grittas said as he hovered near his mistress.

Bara closed her now green-gray eyes, letting a small smile grace her pink lips. "Thank you for your concern Grittas, but it's nothing the Mirror can't handle." she said quietly as she sat down in a less than extravagant throne. It was, after all, a temple, even if to a Heathen God. The ways of this world were much more different from the humans' that resided in the Labyrinth.

The Labyrinth, Bara smirked. It was an odd thing, it was a prison and hell for Jareth and herself, and yet it was a gateway to absolute paradise to those who called on it. Jareth was trapped within its walls, she was held at bay from its power source from its constant shifting and deceiving twists.

She leaned back, her strength was depleting. Perhaps she should take Grittas's suggestion to rest.

"Grittas, I'm sure you know the drill by now," she said quietly as she slowly stood up and gathered her skirts. She nodded to him once as she made her way down the stone steps and to a full length mirror that cast all else's reflections and shadows, except hers.

"Have pleasant dreams my mistress." Grittas said quietly as he made his way to the main chamber.

"But of course, it is all I can do." Bara said before she stepped through the mirror.

--------

Y'falmus nearly threw the large book at the double doors. He tried all of them, all two hundred and fifty two, and he didn't once land as much as a shadow of an atom of himself in the library.

Jagged teeth grinded together in frustration as his twenty gnarled fingers clutched the book with all of his strength.

He didn't leave so much as a smudge on the book, and that was something that caught his notice. Y'falmus's eyes looked at it with veiled wondrous disbelief; his grip should've caused the book to be reduced to only small torn pieces.

He carefully opened the book, which opened to pages four hundred and thirteen, and four hundred and fourteen, which was mainly written in a language he didn't understand. But he saw a picture taking up half of the left page and instantly knew what the book was. Slowly and carefully, he closed the book and smoothed his fingers over the cover.

He had to find that library.

With renewed determination, Y'falmus continued his search for the library, and, within what seemed like a few seconds, he found himself in hovering in the vast library that belonged to his mistresses' foe.

The book quivered in his hands, and in response, he let it go, watching it flutter a bit before it swiftly made its way down an aisle off to the left.

With his mission completed, Y'falmus turned back and left the library through the same way he had come in.

It would take two more days to get back to his mistress and report, but it was well worth it. He had just successfully laid in motion the most important part of his mistresses' plan.

With a sinister grin, Y'falmus turned invisible as he swirled down the halls and through the little crack in the stone that led to the burrow he had made his way through.


End file.
